FIRST GAME: SATURDAY

STORYLINES TO WATCH

Last season started with a lively home win over Montreal and a road victory in Houston, something the Caps had never accomplished before in Major League Soccer.

But the next 12 games saw the PacNor side win just twice — a fate that could very well befall this year’s iteration of the team.

This untested and self-admitted unfinished squad faces a revamped Minnesota team at home to start the season, a side that stiffened its defence with million-dollar TAM centre-back Ike Opara and Seattle legend Ozzie Alonso. Then it’s off to Real Salt Lake for a road game, and away again to Houston seven days later.

With home games against Seattle, the star-studded L.A. Galaxy, an away game to Chicago, followed by a home date with last year’s expansion wunderkind LAFC, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of reality for the nascent Caps to be winless after seven matches.

But don’t bet against coach Marc Dos Santos. His 2016 San Francisco Deltas squad, the eventual NASL champs, were unbeaten in their first four, and lost just twice in 10 games. As an assistant with LAFC, the Black and Gold were 6-2-2.

With so many new faces and MLS newcomers, the Whitecaps will rely heavily on their players with domestic experience to help settle what could be a bumpy ride to start the season. That will put a big onus on rekindling the partnership of Fredy Montero and Yordy Reyna.

In their first game together at B.C. Place Stadium, a 3-2 win over NYCFC at B.C. Place, Montero opened scoring in the third minute and Reyna came off the bench to score the dramatic winner in his home debut.

In the 17 games they played together — including nine starts — the two combined for 13 goals and nine assists, including seven games where one of them had multiple points.

La Liga import Lass Bangoura on the left wing provides them with another lively attacker who’s not afraid to go at defenders off the dribble, and the trio have shown a growing familiarity in practice.

3. The good and bad of the 4-3-3

The baseline formation for the Whitecaps is the quintessential “Portuguese style,” in fact being a staple of A Seleção das Quinas for years.

It’s a system that requires quick aggressive wingers, a disruptive No. 6 midfielder capable of reading the game offensively and defensively, and a back line that pushes up and compacts the opposition’s midfield.

A great emphasis is placed on the quick transitions between possession, losing possession and regaining it, all facets of the game Dos Santos has highlighted in his comments on his philosophy. But one drawback of the formation is the wear-and-tear it puts on players.

The grind of aggressive pressing and dynamic motion puts great stress on a team’s depth, something that’s already being tested for the Whitecaps with the short-term loss of Brett Levis at left back.

Older players, like Montero and Jon Erice, would already need some rotation in a season with a newly compacted schedule, but it also means even the younger legs — especially the thin depth on the wings — will require backups.

4. The collective good

Call a Dos Santos team a product of football socialism. There is no one player who is more important than another, and that goes for goal scoring as well.

The Whitecaps coach wants his goals to come by committee, not just through a single player, and in a diverse manner of scoring.

“We know in games there might be a guy that scores a hat trick. Good for him. Maybe he received the ball from different guys to be in a position for that,” said Dos Santos.

“If we focus on the team being No. 1, what’s going to happen is the individual is going to grow inside the collective. I hope (our scoring) is going to come from different sides. I hope it’s going to come from plays from the wingers finding midfielders, from deep runs, from space that’s created for our wingers and No. 9, from different set-piece situations.

“I want the team to score, but I’d prefer that the X amount of goals we have are divided toward eight, nine, 10 players, than having just one guy who scores 30 goals.”

3 PLAYERS TO WATCH

Jon Erice, defensive midfielder

The Spaniard hails from La Liga 2 side Albacete Balompié, where he started all 18 games last season. The acquisition of the penultimate elder statesman on the club — younger than fellow 32-year-old Scott Sutter by a few months — seemed puzzling considering his age and the trumpeting of the high-press system Dos Santos wanted to implement.

But Erice — who was handed the captain’s armband for Game 1 — is the perfect complement for one of the youngest Whitecaps teams in history, and the right style of No. 6 for the 4-3-3 MDS wants.

He’s experienced, can see the phases of the game as they unfold in front of him, and was one the best passers in La Liga 2 — which will make him a vital link for the team’s transition from defence to breakout.

Lass Bangoura, LW/RW

With the departure of Alphonso Davies, the Caps lost their most exciting player. Bangoura isn’t going to replace the reigning MLS dribble king, but when fans saw him pull off a seal dribble as his first touch as a Whitecap in pre-season, they knew at least they would be in for some excitement.

He hasn’t lit up the scoresheet in eight seasons in La Liga with just eight goals — seven of those coming in his first season — but sometimes all it takes is a change of scenery or league for a player to find his home.

In pairing with Montero and Reyna, that gives the Caps some attacking teeth on the outside with a clinical finisher in the middle.

Joaquin Ardiaz, forward

Another player with thus-far untapped potential, the Uruguayan striker could be the next Montero or the next Anthony Blondell.

The 20-year-old Designated Player, on a one-year loan from Swiss Challenge League club FC Chiasso, was one of the top teenagers in the world in 2017, but has only scored seven goals in 43 appearances across four clubs, including two other loan spells.

But if his trajectory can once again resume its upward trajectory, the same he showed in the South American U20 championship, there is little limit on how high it can go.

3 GAMES TO WATCH

Saturday, 3 p.m.: Minnesota United at Vancouver Whitecaps

The Loons come into B.C. Place for the curtain raiser, hoping to have fixed their defensive deficiencies from a year before, when they gave up 71 goals. By spending $1M in TAM on the 2017 DOPY in centre-back Ike Opara, they hope to have steadied the ship.

“They’re a team that got better. I don’t know if they collectively got better … but individually, getting a guy like Ike Opara,” said Dos Santos. “The pieces are better than last season, in my opinion. Is it going to be a better team? Time is going to say.”

Saturday, March 30: Seattle Sounders FC at Vancouver Whitecaps

It’s the first game of the 2019 Cascadia Cup, and it comes against the reigning champs. The Sounders are traditionally strong finishers — they had three wins in their first 15 games last season, and just two losses in their final 19 — so if you’re gonna get ’em, the best chance is early.

Saturday, Aug. 3: Vancouver Whitecaps at FC Cincinnati

The running joke is that the Orange and Blue are actually Whitecaps FC2, with all the former Vancouver players who dot the roster.

Cincinnati is the new home of centre-back Kendall Waston, who, of course, left the Caps in dramatic fashion, forwards Darren Mattocks and Kekuta Manneh, along with goalkeeper Spencer Richey. They also count manager Alan Koch and assistant Pa-Moudou Kah among their coaching staff, both of whom are well known to Caps fans.

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